Covid-19 Daily Bulletin

27 April 2021

A series of daily updates for CHO members regarding relevant updates pertaining to Coronavirus from home and abroad.

Key Announcements:

• Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced mounting pressure on Monday night as Conservative insiders added weight to claims that he said he would rather see bodies pile up than order another lockdown.
• Fines given to people who broke Covid-19 restrictions in England should be reviewed, after more than a quarter of those prosecuted were found to have been incorrectly charged, a group of MPs has said.
• In England, the NHS coronavirus vaccine booking system has opened to people aged 42 and over. The booking system has extended for the second time in a week to allow more adults in their forties to book their jab.
• Official figures show 2,064 people tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, and six people had died within 28 days of a positive test to bring the total to 127,434. A total of 33,752,885 people had received a first dose of a Covid vaccine up to and including 25 April, of which 12,897,123 have also received a second dose.

Devolved

• Scotland’s Covid-19 vaccination programme has passed the one million mark for delivery of second doses. Monday’s official figures showed that 1,068,704 people had received their second dose, 23.5% of the adult population.
• Shops, gyms, swimming pools, pubs, restaurants and cafes in Scotland have reopened after a four month-long winter lockdown. Early morning queues formed at fashion retailers in Glasgow and Edinburgh as shoppers waited for the doors to open.

International

• India has called in security forces to bolster its fight against Covid-19, deploying soldiers and building field hospitals as the country’s health system threatens to collapse under a deluge of infections. In the capital New Delhi, one of the hardest-hit cities, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police reopened an emergency treatment facility built during the first wave of coronavirus last year.
• South Korea’s economy recovered at a stronger pace than expected in the first quarter on robust exports and brisk facility investments, returning Asia’s fourth-largest economy to pre- pandemic levels.
• The number of Covid-19 shots administered in the US has hit 230m, even as the weekly vaccination rate slowed to its lowest mark in almost a month.

Stakeholders

• Consumers have begun to return to the busiest parts of London’s main shopping district now that non-essential shops, restaurants, cafes and bars have reopened from England’s third lockdown.